Hyderabad Blues

Criminal Negligence

The tragedy that took place on the banks of the Beas river claiming the lives of 24 students from the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology has sent the people of Hyderabad into a state of shock. The students, most of them aged 19 and 20, were on an "industrial tour" in Himachal Pradesh but evidently the college authorities wanted the students to have a good time too in the scenic state. Bizarre arguments ranging from how students should not be allowed on pleasure trips to how the mining mafia is responsible for the water tragedy are raging on TV debates. The shocked families are torn between officials of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who are doing their best to outdo each other in hustling the Himachal government.

The Andhra Pradesh government has already announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the deceased students. The Telangana government is yet to announce anything. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has yet again proven his administrative prowess by getting his bureaucrats, a couple of Ministers and MPs to supervise the rescue operations. Telangana home minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy too flew in to supervise operations along with Principal Secretary (Revenue) B.R. Meena and S.P. Karthikeya from Greyhounds. Almost immediately, the minister laid the blame on college authorities wondering why they were organising "picnics" in the name of industrial tours. A case of criminal negligence is likely to be lodged against the Vignana Institute as well.  The Himachal government has already swung into action against officials of the Larji dam project for releasing waters suddenly from the reservoir at Mandi. Perhaps, the one wise move it has made so far is in deciding to fence off the area and put up warning signs.

Painful Memories

The Facebook pages of the young students show that they were having great fun. One of the deceased students wrote about "touching the height of enjoyment", another girl sought comments on her posing at scenic places and her clothes. The joy which these youngsters felt during the trip is obvious. At the HiTec City, some IT students held a candlelight vigil in memory of the deceased students. The shock of the parents who spoke to their children only a couple of hours before the tragedy is painful. As one parent B. V. Subba Rao says, "all I want now is for my son's body to be found".

Vaastu Master

From Delhi to Daulatabad and Daulatabad to Delhi. This seems to wrap up the state of mind of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as far as picking a camp office goes. Earlier, KCR had decided not to move into the Begumpet camp office built during the time the late Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy was CM. Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan then proceeded to allot two official bungalows in Kundanbagh for the CM's camp office. Now after getting a fresh vaastu survey done of the Begumpet camp office, KCR feels some minor changes to the building would be enough. In fact, barricades near the camp office had also been removed recently since it was ruled out as an office for the Telangana CM. A couple of All India Services officers who were occupying the quarters in Kundanbagh area were asked to vacate their homes. It is likely now that Speaker Madhusudhana Chary will be given the Kundanbagh quarters but it remains to be seen if Chary will like to live there. 

'Peculiar Character'

Dissenters are crawling out of the woodwork in the YSR Congress party. After Jaganmohan Reddy's defeat in the elections, two YSR Congress MPs, S. P. Y. Reddy (Nandyal) and Butta Renuka (Kurnool) joined the Telugu Desam. Now, another senior leader of the party who had joined YSR Congress in May, 2013 after being ignored in the Telugu Desam, has lashed out at Jagan. Stating that he was quitting the YSR Congress, Dadi Veerabhadra Rao called Jagan a "peculiar character" with twin personalities. "His arrogant behaviour, refusal to accept reality, an understanding with Sonia Gandhi led to his downfall. He refused to attack the Congress verbally during the election campaigning despite pressure to do so. When we would try to tell him that the party was losing out in various constituencies, he would simply ignore our advice. He never sat down with his MLA candidates and tried to understand their problems," says Dadi. 

Delusions of Grandeur

The party leader says that Jagan was so full of himself that he did not even think twice about pitching his mother Vijayalakshmi in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. "She is the late YSR's widow and had to face the humiliation of defeat in Visakhapatnam which clearly has an urban electorate, many being from the north. At a time when the Modi wave was ruling the nation, how could Jagan take such a suicidal decision," queries Dadi Veerabhadra Rao. According to the leader, Jagan, instead of introspecting about the YSR Congress' defeat, kept telling everyone that five years would fly past and he would be CM for 30 years after that. "What can I say about a politician and a leader who speaks like this," says an enraged Dadi. He also predicts that the YSR Congress will cease to exist soon. 

A Mammoth Task 

The 19-member cabinet of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu which was sworn in on June 8 has a mammoth task ahead. One of reconstructing the state of Andhra Pradesh and living up to the expectations of citizens who are smarting from the bifurcation issue, especially losing out Hyderabad to Telangana. Naidu put up a mega show during his swearing-in ceremony at Guntur, inviting VVIPs from across the nation. He signed five files, on loan waivers to farmers, self-help groups, weavers, closure of illegal liquor outlets, increase in pensions, 20 litre of mineral water for Rs 2, and increase in retirement age from 58 to 60 years. Naidu has had several meetings with his Ministers and has stated that after the Assembly session concludes, his government would present white papers on human resources, infrastructure, irrigation, agriculture, power and governance. Naidu has also set a 100-day deadline for his ministers to perform or perish. He has sent out signals that unless the ministers score an 80% on their report cards, they will be dropped. 

Meanwhile, the Telangana government is going all out to protect and boost the IT image of Hyderabad. Information Technology minister K. T. Rama Rao has stated that the government would work toward bridging partnerships between IT companies and engineering colleges to equip students with necessary skills. Rama Rao has stated that his ministry would ask software companies to fulfil the corporate social responsibility norms by "adopting" engineering colleges. Rama Rao has also said that Hyderabad would soon be a hub of electronic system design manufacturing. The Telangana government is planning to attract investments in two electronic manufacturing clusters mainly, an e-city manufacturing cluster in 602 acres and a Maheshwaram Science Park in 310 acres. KCR's son has been having regular meetings with IT industry heads as part of confidence building measures and is going all out to preserve the HiTec City's image.